May 31, 2011

New congressional map on way to Quinn's desk

SPRINGFIELD --- Democrats in the Senate sent Gov. Pat Quinn a new map of the state’s congressional boundaries for the next decade, a plan which carves up suburban districts to help Chicago incumbents and threatens to overturn Republican election gains made last year.

Voting along party lines, the Senate approved the map on a 34-25 tally. The state’s congressional districts must be redrawn every decade to conform to population shifts revealed in the federal census.

Republican senators chafed at the outlines of the new map, which extend districts held by Chicago Democrats well out into the GOP-leaning suburbs. DuPage County, which has been divided up into three districts, would be split up into six districts, including one that goes eastward, all the way through Wrigley Field and to the lakefront. Another goes eastward to U.S. Cellular Field.

State Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine, said the map is “a pretty substantial effort at partisan gerrymandering.”

“This congressional map is a national embarrassment,” Murphy said. “This doesn’t really reflect the type of product that I think the people of this state would be proud of. This is a power grab. You have a majority. You have the power to do it.”

Since Democrats control the state legislature and the governor’s office, no Republican input was used in the new map, which seeks to reverse the mid-term election results that created five new GOP congressmen. Several Republican incumbents are matched against each other or find themselves with unfamiliar territory and matched up with Democratic incumbents.

Democratic Senate President John Cullerton defended the map, saying the current boundaries split 31 counties compared to only 18 in the new map. “It’s politically fair and you’ll see that bear out in the next 10 years,” Cullerton said.

Republicans sought to align themselves with a potential Latino legal challenge to the map, arguing that a second congressional district should be created for the rapidly growing Hispanic community. But Democrats said Latino advocacy groups didn’t seek an additional district and contended the GOP was only seeking kinship with Latinos to challenge the map.

Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Chicago, said Republicans were acting “immoral and unconscionable” in trying to portray themselves as concerned about Latino issues. That prompted Republican Sen. Tom Johnson of West Chicago to call Sandoval’s remarks “outrageous.”

Anticipating a potential legal challenge, sponsoring Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, stuck to a script of legalese, saying “The map was drawn balancing redistricting principles, trying to stay in compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act, equality in population and the traditional redistricting principles.”

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

The Cook County Assessor's office has put together lists of projected median property tax bills for all suburban towns and city neighborhoods. We've posted them for you to get a look at who's paying more and who's paying less.

Past posts

Clout has a special meaning in Chicago, where it can be a noun, a verb or an adjective. This exercise of political influence in a uniquely Chicago style was chronicled in the Tribune cartoon "Clout Street" in the early 1980s. Clout Street, the blog, offers an inside look at the politics practiced from Chicago's City Hall to the Statehouse in Springfield, through the eyes of the Tribune's political and government reporters.